Wednesday, October 17, 2012

In the Cavalry: Getting Down to Details

Perhaps every mother needs to face up to the fact that her
son entertains dreams of glory which may find their way out into reality when
he enlists in the army. I don’t know how young men’s dreams took shape in the
1800s, but as soon as he could after the 1861 start of hostilities, Thomas Taliaferro Broyles grabbed his chance to turn his own dreams into reality. On
September 5, 1863—supposedly as soon as he could after school graduation—T. T.
Broyles enlisted at McPhersonville,
South Carolina. Lieutenant L. J.
Walker did the honors, enrolling him as a private in Company A of the Rutledge
Mounted Riflemen and Horse Artillery.

At some point, Company A combined with Company B, Seventh
Regiment of the South Carolina Cavalry, as noted on Thomas Broyles’ service records:

The 7th Regiment South
Carolina Cavalry was formed by the addition of five independent companies to
the five companies of the Cavalry Battalion, Holcombe Legion, South Carolina
Volunteers, by S. O. No. 65, A. & I. G. O., dated March 18, 1864.

Shortly after that date, on May 27, 1864, newly-promoted
Colonel Alexander Cheves Haskell assumed the responsibilities of the Seventh
South Carolina Cavalry—a position which he held through the remainder of the
war. Haskell’s appointment there replaced the command of Wade Hampton III, ironically
later becoming the South Carolina Governor who subsequently saw to it that
Haskell received a position as justice on the state supreme court. With his
many significant roles in South Carolina
military and political history, as well as commerce and transportation, a
sizeable collection of Haskell's papers have been preserved and housed at the University of South Carolina library.

While notes concerning the Haskell Papers provide an
overview of conditions of war under his command—and thus a bird’s eye view of
what my great-great-grandfather may have also been experiencing in part—they,
combined with sections of Thomas Broyles’ obituary, serve to introduce some
doubt in my mind as to the reliability of the statements contained in that
memorial.

I noticed, for instance, the report in the introduction to
the Haskell collection:

Haskell graduated from South Carolina College on the eve of the
Civil War, second in his class, and immediately volunteered in the First
Regiment…

Tell me, where have I heard such a line before? Could it be
that statements like that in Thomas’ report are a popular romanticization of
the time period?

Thomas Broyles graduated from the University
of North Carolina at eighteen years of age, and three days later was in the
saddle as a member of Heiskell's Cavalry.

The parallel is too uncomfortable for me. Was it just
fashionable to say one was so committed to this war that he could hardly await
the chance to serve?—well, after graduation from college first, of course.

Then to some of the other facts: why, for instance, would a
publication such as the Confederate
Veteran misspell Haskell’s name? Editorial sloppiness? Disinterest in
proper spelling? A dreadfully caricatured southern drawl? Or was there really
another cavalry leader with the surname Heiskell, who just happened to carry
the same two initials as Haskell? Why, then, would records—now preserved online—show
company rosters detailed under the name Haskell and not Heiskell?

And then there is this little matter of math. Here, I’m
hobbled in that I don’t feel entirely confident about Thomas’ birth date. But if
he enlisted in the army in 1863, being eighteen years of age at that point
would make his year of birth 1845. The birth date I’ve noted on my records was
originally received from a footnote in volume one of Arthur Leslie Keith’s History of the Broyles Family (I've since found corollary evidence in the death certificate—though that only provides me a modicum of confidence). If the date given, October
28, 1842, is correct, an enlistment date of September 5, 1863, would put Thomas
just shy of his twenty-first birthday. Not the eighteenth.

Bringing Dr. Keith’s long out-of-print manuscript into the conversation
introduces another discrepancy: that same source indicates Thomas
graduated from the University
of North Carolina in 1860.
That’s not exactly just a few days away from that September, 1863, enlistment, now
is it?

Whatever the case may be—and especially adding the issue of
his missing headstone to bolster my resolve—I propose a lot more study
should be invested in sorting out the details of this man’s history.

And, above all, never trust an obituary. If ever there was a
time to wax eloquent, it is in eulogizing a loved one recently departed.

10 comments:

I was (wuz) thinking about the Haskell - Heiskell thing, and have a theory.

The 19th Tennessee Infantry Regiment was led by C W Heiskell - and he was quite famous (and well up in the ranks) - his unit was in Knoxville and in Jonesboro Tennessee, from what I read, more than once.

Colonel Heiskell was born ten miles west of Knoxville, Tenn., in Knox county...

http://www.tngenweb.org/civilwar/csainf/csa19.html states the 19th was busy as early as August 15, 1861.

So - the "biographer" might be correct or confused about his Haskell/Heiskell?

Thanks so much for that link, Iggy. In one way, it complicates things. In another way, it's good to know what--or who--else is out there, and to double check against assumptions. From other records I've seen, I'm inclined to stick with the South Carolina company, though. The link you provided was for infantry, and I believe T. T. Broyles was part of the cavalry. Plus, his home state through graduation from college was South Carolina, not Tennessee.

However, there is so much more to study on this. Dr. Broyles certainly left quite a few important stages in his life as enigmas.

P.s., the "enlistment date" you have might be a RE-enlistment date. If I recall correctly, the south had soldiers enlist for short terms like the north with its 3 month enlistments. I think the south had a 13 month enlistment early in the war. Furthermore, Thomas T. might have entered the state militia, and then enlisted in the CSA army later on -

While this does not directly apply to Thomas T. Broyles, it does illustrate the timing of Civil War service units:

"The origins of the 5th SC Cavalry can be traced to Captain Robert J. Jeffords’ Co. (South Carolina Rangers) SC Mounted Militia, and Captain Wheeler G. Smith’s Co. (Beech Hill Rangers) SC Mounted Militia. These volunteer companies were organized in Charleston and Colleton Districts, respectively, during the summer of 1861, and were incorporated into the 1st (Martin’s) SC Mounted Militia Regiment in September of that year. Martin’s Regiment was called to active duty in November 1861, in response to the occupation of Port Royal by Federal troops, and its companies were dispersed to various points along South Carolina’s southern coast.

On 7 December 1861, the South Carolina legislature passed a bill enabling the Governor to call out the militia for 12 months’ service, and allowing for the organization of troops into regiments, battalions, and squadrons. Two days later, the Governor issued a call for 12,000 volunteers for 12 months’ Confederate service, and ordered a draft to meet the required number if sufficient volunteers were not forthcoming. The effect of this proclamation was to require all volunteer military organizations to reorganize for 12 months’ service, which Jeffords’ company did almost immediately."

Actually, Iggy, I just re-upped my subscription to Fold3, which has a large collection of military records. My Thomas T. Broyles' records are there in several files. It's just a matter of going through each entry and seeing what can be found in the details. There may be some verification of a scenario like the one you laid out above, just waiting to be uncovered.

About Me

It is my contention that, after a lifetime, one of the greatest needs people have is to be remembered. They want to know: have I made a difference?
I write because I can't keep for myself the gifts others have entrusted to me. Through what I've already been given--though not forgetting those to whom I must pass this along--from family I receive my heritage; through family I leave a legacy. With family I weave a tapestry. These are my strands.